Stories Before Sept 2016

Matt Lauer is hoping that breaking bread will help break the Today Show's losing streak to Good Morning America.

Radar Online reports that the embattled Anchor is taking a top-down approach to the issues on the show he has helmed since 1996, taking show staffers out to lunch TWICE a week in an effort to boost morale and encourage a team atmosphere.

The “rallying of the troops” comes in the wake of Ann Curry‘s firing as the newsman’s co-anchor, the demise of nine staffers and routine losses in the ratings war to ABC’s Good Morning America.

During the past 12 months, 55-year-old Lauer “has gone out of his way to take staffers of the show out to lunch at least twice a week at his favorite midtown Manhattan hotel restaurant spot,” a source revealed.

“Matt wants to hear from producers and other staff about ideas for stories to cover, concerns they have — or any other issues. No one from the network told Matt to do this. This is something he wanted to do.

“The lunch group might be the cast one day, producers the next. No one wants the show to return to the glory days more than Matt and he’s fostering an open door approach and team atmosphere.”